Sign



l)une 18, 1929. w A BURNS 1,717,434

SIGN

Filed Sept. l2, 1927 i l |In l l lll l INI/NIM Patented June 18, 1929. i

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PATENT oFFicE.

wIIiiirwAM-ALBEB BURNS, or BRONDESBURY, LONDONQENGLAND.

l. SIGN. v 1

Appncatio-nlea september-12, 1927, serial No. 219,026, and in Great Britain Mai-ch 31, 1927.

This invention refers to boit signs and has for its object to provide a sign adapted to be used either by day or by night, thatI is to say, either by means of its self-contained source of illumination or by '.means'of illun'iination derived'from the sky or when'used in a shop window front from the normal lighting means of a shop front. f

It is an object of the invention to provide a box signhaving -a forwardly-arranged display device suchas la transparent. stencil and a rearwardly-arranged rellectonfmeans 'for illuminationfbeing prov-ided'behind the said reflector. The space between thev reflector and the stencil is left uncovered or may be covered by clear glass, and light entering this space is reflected bythe reflector through the stencil which it renders visible. ternal light is available with access into this said. space, illumination is provided from the means-'arranged behindthe reflector which ma7 comprise:ordinary electric light bulbs, and the stencil is again. rendered visible.

Accordingly, the 1eflecto1'co1nprises a plate of glass having one surface silvered, the'silvering being however removed over a multitude of small areas withiny the total area of the reflector sovas toleave these areas clear. Preferably, the. saidv areas are similarly shaped and are equally spacedintwo dimensions at right. angles to each other.-

Such amirror is preferably formed by the use of a stencil comprising an opaque sheet, for example, metal/having a` multitude of small areas cut away from its total area. `The glass is wholly silvered on its rearward surfacev and the vstencilso formed laid behindV the. silvering..- The silvering isthen removed by sand blasting through the open areas of the stencil. y'The effect of this is to render. the glass .translucent over the said small areas whilst leaving-'the remaining area of the silvering untouched.` The small areas are, however, not transparent in the strict sense per-` mitting a clear View to be had of a source of illumination arranged behind the reflector, since the sand -blastingroughens the surface ofthe glass whenthersilvering is removed leaving it dull and breaking-up vlight rays passing through the gla'ssso that'objects rey garded tlierethrough are knot clearly. per- I ceived.

The areas, however, remain translucent in .that they readily transmit light therethrough but the rays of light are sfattered on 'reaching the surface owing toits roughened quality. l

lWhen no eX- The invention is not however limited to a Y silvered 4mirror, as a sheet of polished metal could be vemployed in which the metal was cut clean away over the multitude of small areas.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which f Fig. 1 shows a perspective view partly broken away of the box sign according to the invention,

Fig. 2 being an end View ofFig. l.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of a fragment of a reflector shown to an enlarged scale.

Turning now to the drawings, the form here illustrated comprises a frame 1 having a front framing 2 against which is placed a display device 3 here shown in the form of a stencil which is generally opaque and has clear letters. The display device 3 leans against the back of the framing 2 which is inclined forwardly from the base plate 4; of the sign frame l. The translucent reflector 5 is arranged behind the stencil 3 at an angle thereto. In the form shown it is inclined `rearwardly from the base plate l and the` bottom edges of the stencil 3 and yreflector 5 are spaced some slight distance from each other. The reflector 5 leans against blocks 6 formed on the side wallsA of the sign frame l and the stencil and' reflector are held down by copperI clips 7 of usual form.` Rearwardly of the reflector 5 the boX sign frame comprises an upper horizontal batten 8 from which one or more electric lamp bulbs. 9 are suspended to. serve as a source of illumination behind the reflector 5.

The reflector 5 in the form shown comprises a glass plate which has been silvered over all its rearward surface, the silvering however having been removed over a multitude of small, 1` circular, equally-spaced areas l0. These .extend in a regular manner over the whole area of the glass plate 5. For the sake of clearness they are not shown as so extending in Fig. l., but Fig. 3 showing a detail view of the glass clearly illustrates how this reflector is formed.` According to this ligure the clear areas are one quarter of an inch in vdiameter and are positioned at the angles of squares of onehalf inch side similarly and regularly ov'er all the surface ofthe'glass. This spacing leaves about T8 per cent of the original silvering untouched, that is to say the total area of the small areas is about 22 per cent of the total area of the reflector. I find, however, that it is possible to increase the total area removed llO up to about 40 per cent of the total area of the reflector without impairing the efficiency of the sign when employing daylight illumination, it being of course clear that the removal of silvering adds to the efficiency of the sign when employing illumination from the lamp 9. Generally speaking, however, it appears inadvisable to remove more than 40 per cent of the total amount of the silvering in the manner described. As stated, the silvering is removed by sand blasting through a stencil having cut-away parts corresponding to the small areas l0. rlhe areas l of the mirror are thus left translucent but not transparent. The side walls of the sign frame l are fitted with internal plain mirrors 1l to conserve the light within the space a.

ln the form shown, the refiector 5 is arranged at an angle of degrees to the vertical.

It will be appreciated that the space a between the reflector 5 and the stencil 3 is uncovered at the top or is covered by clear glass or other light transmitting medium.

In use, light entering the top of space a and falling on the reflector 5 will be reflected forwardly thereof, and will illuminate the stencil 3 rendering it visible. Alternatively, when no such light is available, light derived from the electric lamp or lamps 9 will be transmitted through the small areas 10 of the reflector 5, being diffused or scattered by the dull surfaces of these areas and will equally render the stencil 3 visible. The internal rear wall of the frame l may be covered by a mirror or may be'whitened to efficiently employ all the light emitted from the lamp 9.

The box sign illustrated is intended for use in shop fronts where the light entering the space a will be derived either from light entering the shop window or from the usual sources of illumination in the shop front. Such light will-'enter the space a from the front thereof and for this reason the reflector 5 is arranged comparatively steeply. Where, however, the box sign is intended to be used on facias or outside a building where the daylight illumination is derived from the sky, the reflector 5 will preferably be arranged at an angle of degrecs, and the stencil 3 would in this case be arranged vertically. In the form shown, it is arranged to slope forwardly from the base 4 in order that its upper edge may give sufficient width to the space a for an ample amount of light to enter the space for illumination of the stencil after reflection by the reflector, the lower edge of the stencil being arranged rearwardly of the forward edge to some extent to diminish the total bulk and weight of the sigh.

It is to be understood, however, that the invention is capable of a wide variety of material embodiments and that the preferred form illustrated and the several modifications de- Y scribed are to be taken merely as preferred examples of the same, and that changes in arrangement and construction of part-s may be made as required and found suitable so long as they remain within the spirit of the invention and scope of thefo'llow'ing claims. For example, the reiector of silvered glass might be constructed by having the multitude of small areas silvered, and the remainder of the total area of the refiector translucent should it be found equally `practieableso to construct it. v

Further the frame of the sign might hold only the front display device and the rearward translucent reflector arranged at an angle lthereto, the sign then being suspended in front of a normal or yusuall illuminating lamp in a shop front for which purpose the rear of the reflector is left exposed.

Itis further to be understood that the word translucent as used inthe specification and claims describes any medium which permits of light illumination passing therethrough irrespective of whether the rays are scattered or pass in unaffected pencils through themedium.' In the following claims therefore the word translucent is used to include transparent areas.

I claim y l. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearward reflector having a multitude of translucent areas spread over its reflecting surface arranged at an angle thereto and an illuminating means behind said re- Hector.

2. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearward reflector having a multitude of similiarly shaped translucent areas spread over its reiecting surface arranged at an angle thereto and an illuminating means behind said reflector.

3. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearward reflector having a multitude of similarly shaped and equally spaced translucent areas spread over its reflecting surface arranged at an angle thereto and an illuminating means behind said reflector.

4. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device 'said glass having a surface mirrored except as toa multitude of unmirrored areas within the total areaof said surface, and an illuminating means behind said glass.

5. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device, said glass having a surface mirrored except as to ai multitude of similarly-shaped unmirrored areas within the total area of said surface, and an illuminating means behind said glass.

6. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device said glass having a surface mirrored except as to a multitude of similarly-shaped and equally-spaced unmirrored areas within the totalu area of said survequally face, and an illuminating means behind said glass. Y

7. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device said glass having a surface mirrored except as to a multitude of spaced circular unmirrored areas within the total area of said surface, and an illuminating` means rbehind said glass.

8. A box sign comprising` a front display device, a rearward reflector having a multitude of equally spaced circular translucent areas spread over its refiecting surface arranged at an angle thereto and an illuminating means behind said reflector.

9. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardlyarranged glass at an angle to saiddisplay device said glass having a surface mirrored except as to a multitude of unmirrored areas within the total area of said surface, and an illuminating means behind said glass, said unmirrored areas being rendered non-transparent. i

10. A box sign comprising a front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device said glass having a surface mirrored except as to a multitude of similarly-shaped and equally-spaced unmirrored areas within the total area of said surface, and an illuminating means behind said glass said unmirrored areas being rendered non-transparent.

11. A box sign comprisinga front display device, a rearwardly-arranged glass at an angle to said display device said glass having a surface mirrored except as to a multitude of equally spaced circular unmirrored areas lWithin the total area of said surface, and an illuminating means behind said glass, said unmirrored areas being rendered non-trans parent.

12. A box sign for use by day or night in shop fronts comprising a base, a stencil sloping forwardly from the front of said base, a translucent reflector behind said stencil comprising a mirror having a multitude of translucent equally spaced similarly shaped areas left clear within its total area sloping rearwardly from said base, and illuminating means behind said reflector.

13. A box sign for use by day or night, comprising a base, a stencil sloping forwardly from the front of said base, a reflector having a multitude of translucent areas spread over its reflecting surface behind said stencil sloping rearwardly from said base` and illuminating` means behind said reflector.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

WILLIAM ALBERT BURNS. 

